Attendees
In Attendance: Eric, Brandice, Heather, Laurence, Nigel, Valerie
Guest in Attendance: Tammi Johnson
Chamber Manager: Melinda
Minutes
Approval of Agenda: motion approved.
Approval of October and November meeting minutes: October 2023 – Minutes November 2023 - Minutes: motion approved.
Approval of new members: Beatty XTR, Parklands Youth Hub, Karen’s Hair care, Giiwee Media, Elkhorn Resort, Stowaway Inn. Motion approved.
Treasurer's report (Valerie Soltys): December 11, 2023.pdf Report covers January 1, 2023 to date. One hangar rental remains outstanding but is expected to be paid prior to the end of the year. Donations for the parade were received from Crocus Credit Union and Smoky Hollow. Total revenue - $19,523.10 with the taxes having been paid. There is no change to the marketing section. There is an additional monthly subscription for Xero.
Chamber Manager report (Melinda): Not receiving emails. Make sure everyone is receiving correspondence from me. Eric will address this issue.
Director’s Insurance: The Manitoba Chamber of Commerce does not offer Director Insurance. The Erickson & District Chamber is willing to cover any additional cost that the Municipality incurs with respect to Director Liability Insurance. Eric to follow up at the Municipality meeting scheduled for December 13th.
RCMP Musical Ride: We have been awarded the 2024 Musical Ride, which is scheduled for this July. 23, 24, 25^(th). There will be shows in Erickson on the 23 and Austin on the 24^(th). Eric met with a member of the Musical Ride team on site December 10^(th). They toured the skating rink and the arena (corral area). The size and location are good. It sounds like the Musical Ride would prefer the stable area to be located inside as it is more predictable with respect to the weather. There are several details that need to be discussed further. One is the warm up area, which could be in the field potentially. Size required is 200 x 100 ft. In total, the horses would be in Erickson for 3 days. Short show 30-40 minutes in duration in Erickson. Recommend that place for stabling open to the public so people can walk through and see the horses. They would then leave for the day to do a show in Austin, overnight in Erickson. Municipality has been approached and given approval for use of the facilities. Nigel will approach the Orange Lodge for volunteers. Valiere wants to form a formal committee. A formal lead committee will be created with a special meeting scheduled to discuss the same at lunch on Tuesday, December 19^(th) at lunch at McMunny’s. Tami, Valerie, Nigel, Laurence and Eric have committed to attending the meeting. To start, they will discuss being the lead organization, what is the best way to invite other groups to help and how would funds be shared. Some initial groundwork will be done by Heather regarding the supplying of hay. It was agreed that further discussions are required regarding the donation of hay vs. the sponsorship by a 3^(rd) party for the hay.
Choosing a date for the RCMP Musical Ride Hosting Presentation: RCMP Musical Ride has a 2-hour presentation going over the details of hosting that they would like to schedule with us soon. Eric will provide more details.
Chamber/Municipality of Clanwilliam Erickson relations: Reversed their previous decision and have re-assigned Tammi to join our meetings.
AGM 2024: January 9^(th) at 7:00. There needs to be some advertising regarding the AGM. An email will be sent to the current members and a public post will be made to the Facebook page announcing the date, time and place of the scheduled AGM. Heather will not be present at the January 2^(nd) Chamber meeting but will be in attendance at the AGM on the 9^(th).
Nominations: Aaron McKay is interested in a director position representing Giiwe Media.
Recap: Christmas Parade 2023: Saturday, December 9^(th)- Breezy and a bit chilly. Municipality did a great job with snow removal in the Marshalling area and the parade route. There were 19 floats with the RCMP heading the parade and the Municipality float and Santa at end. Lots of candy thrown by floats. Travel time was 20 minutes. Eric had bonfire Food Hub lot and it was well used. Erickson & area Food Bank barbequed 150 hot dogs and had open house. There were 300 hot dogs ordered with the remainder of hot dogs being donated to the Food Bank. The Food Bank received $330.00 in their donation box. Last year we had 7 floats and 19 this year plus additional areas of bonfire. The 2024 parade is schedule for December 14^(th). There will be discussions surrounding a possible change in date from the 14^(th) to the 7^(th). The 7^(th) is also the Chamber Christmas Party. Laurence has suggested that the Chamber consider constructing a generic float that could be used in different events over the course of the year. Laurence will be placing an advertisement in the South Mountain Press thanking donors and participants Feedback from the public was positive and indicated that it was a great parade.
Recap – Christmas Party 2023: 128 Christmas party supper tickets were sold and 6 tickets for the dance with $8,541.00 being raised. This is down a bit from last year. The expenses for the Christmas party were approximately $8,235.33. It was anticipated that there would be a loss but the increase to the bar prices covered the shortfall. As of today, the party made $305.67.
MB Chamber Renewals MB Chambers Renewal +/- $450/year: A motion was approved to renew the MB Chamber membership for 2024. It was agreed that we can gain a lot of knowledge from their experience and should take advantage of their templates and gain ideas from their website. Melinda will take a loot to see if there is some marketing material and templates that we might find useful. Melinda will look into the renewal and provide feedback to Valerie.
Leda Lake update: Fundraising progress vs. goal, project plan and timeline (for information only): Project is moving forward. A public announcement will be soon with more details and a fundraising announcement . Currently the space is designed for 2 or 3 seasons throughout the year. Laurence mentioned that it would be great to add an area for tobogganing and fire.
Recording Meeting: A motion was approved to record the Board Meeting for the purpose of generating the Minutes but that the said recording will be properly disposed of upon the completion of the said Minutes.
Contribution to Erickson School Christmas Concert treats - $200.00 It was moved that a donation will be made to the Erickson School Christmas Concert in the amount of $200.00.
2024 King’s Visit to Canada: The King is scheduled to visit Treaty #4, which is in close proximity to Wasagaming. There is a movement to try and get him to include Wasagaming as a destination in his visit. A motion was approved to support any effort to bring the King to Wasagaming.
Discuss Website: Nigel would like to see the website be more inclusive. The Board has agreed that a good start would be to have photos submitted by the surrounding communities. A rotation of these photos can be added to the website
In Camera
Motion to adjourn approved.
Call to action:
Eric to reach out to Kevin Bertravich – experience of Onanole RCMP ride 2012.
Melinda will add RCMP Musical Ride 2024 to AGM Agenda.
Melinda to send out email announcing the 2024 AGM in January to all current board members and make a post to Facebook regarding same.
Melinda will add the 2024 RCMP Musical Ride as an Agenda item at the 2024 AGM in January.
Melinda will add an Agenda item to the 2024 AGM regarding the updating of the yearly events calendar.
Eric will reach out to the Erickson School Christmas Concern and advise of the approval of the donation.